Australian health and safety authorities have sharply criticised airline Qantas for potentially exposing workers and passengers to coronavirus. An investigation by SafeWork NSW, a state body in NSW, found the country’s flag carrier put cleaning staff at risk by not requiring them to wear protective equipment when cleaning planes that might have transported people with an infectious disease. The report said investigators observed workers who were “required to handle wet and used tissues, used face masks, soiled nappies and the workers advised they occasionally have to clean vomit and blood off surfaces. [Personal protective gear] was not mandated for the majority of these tasks”. “I observed [cleaning crew] wiping over multiple tray tables with the same wet cloth with no disinfectant and cleaning unknown liquids on floors and surfaces,” said one investigator, who compiled the report on February 26, several weeks after the coronavirus outbreak began. SafeWork NSW has directed Qantas to develop a safe system of work that covers the risk of disease, including from Covid-19. <br/>
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Cathay Pacific Airways was fined 500,000 pounds by the UK’s privacy watchdog for failing to protect customers’ data due to security lapses lasting nearly four years. The penalty is the highest the UK authority could levy under old rules that were replaced in May 2018 with tougher measures boosting regulators’ fining powers. Between October 2014 and May 2018, Cathay Pacific’s computer systems “lacked appropriate security measures which led to customers’ personal details being exposed, 111,578 of whom were from the UK, and approximately 9.4m more worldwide,” the UK Information Commissioner’s Office said Wednesday. “This breach was particularly concerning given the number of basic security inadequacies across Cathay Pacific’s system, which gave easy access to the hackers,” Steve Eckersley, the ICO’s director of investigations, said in the statement. “The multiple serious deficiencies we found fell well below the standard expected.” The airline is held responsible for failing to prevent “the unauthorized access to their passengers’ personal details,” including names, passport and identity details, the ICO added.<br/>
The Netherlands will put four people on trial next week over the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, giving families hope of justice even if the suspects are not in the dock. For more than five years relatives have called for the prosecution of those responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with the loss of all 298 men, women and children on board. A Dutch-led international probe last year made its first charges in the case, accusing Russians Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko of involvement. None is expected to be at the high-security court near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Monday, but family members will be out in force for the start of what is expected to be a year-long trial. "For the next of kin this is a very important moment," said Piet Ploeg, head of a foundation for MH17 victims who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew on the doomed flight. "We will hear what happened, why it happened, what was the role of the Russian state. I hope, I am convinced, we will get all the answers that we have not had for five-and-a-half years," he said.<br/>